Amusement structure



April 23, 1929. v c. w. READ 1,709,877

' AMUSEMENT STRUCTURE a 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet fnuenf'al."

April 23, 1929.

c. W.,READ

AMUSEMENT STRUCTURE 2 Sheets-She' -mlk m .JJ:.....;...... EE EE M WM QIra/emf?) Czar/as Vie Filed March 30, 1927 Patented Apr. 23, 1929. I

enemas w. READ, or INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA.

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Armen a i March 3 .9. 7- e i ii "17 1 6 This invention relates toamusement structures such as are erected in parks and playgrounds forthe entertainment of the public and the object of this invention is toprovide a structure which will he a representation of Bluebeards castlein weird and fantastic outward appearance, having an inside passage withan entrance at one end and an eXita't the other, said passage to betraveled by pedestrians upon payment of an admission fee and to presentobstacles and sensational features to be walked over, through or pastrooms of horror in keeping with the Bluebeard legend, to be gazed at bythe tourists.

Another important object of the invention is to provide an attractivelylandscapedv vista, court, or ballyhoo, closed on two sides and'at thefar end by walls of rock and masonry, and from which" the public isexcluded a railing or balustrade at the near or front end, but which thepeople can readily see over, and to expose the tourists travelling thepassage ways in the structure, to view of the people outs de oi thebalustrade, at intervals in order to excite the interest and curiosityof the latterand induce them to also become tourists.

A further object is to provide a perfectly safe by-pass' around treadmills, revolving disks, shuffle boards, and the like hazards in thetourists passages for the optional use of elderly people and all who aretimid or prefer to be spectators instead of actors thereon. v

A still further object is to inject jets of air under pressure throughthe floor over which tourists are passing, generally at one or more ofthe situations where they are exposed'toview from the outside, and'to"provide a station from which these places are visible and'meansotair-control at that station, whereby an operator there can turn theair onsuddenly to increase the surprise when he sees the tourists arestanding over the compressed air nozzles.

I accomplish the above, and other objects which will hereinafter appear,by the means indicated in the accompanying drawings, in which-- 1 Fig.1,is a plan view of my invention;

F 2, is a vertical section on the line 2'2 of Fig. l;

'OfFisa .7 F ig. 4C, is a front perspective view'ot my 1I1V611t1011. I 5V Like characters of reference indicate like parts in the several viewsof the drawings.

The vista, court, 'ballyhoo, or enclosure 5, by whatever name called, isdefined u ion lwe' i le y W ls Sandi e s ov irregular itorm made out ofcanvas and painted to imitate stone. Theseare connected at their tarends by a closure 8, in imitation of a castle, and at their near ortront ends by a balustrade ,9 which excludes the public 'troni theenclosure .5, [while allowing an'unobstructed viewo'f it and itssurrounding walls. i

The enclosed area 5 is attractively landared in my Suit ble manner. Backor the walls 6 and and castle front 8, is awinding passageway throughwhich people known as tourists are'perniitteid to. walk single file inthedirection indicated by the arrows uponthe payment 'of'an admissi'onfee. Theentranc'e and exitaii'e'h'ere shown as through the mouths ofgigantic heads, constructed according to the a-i'tis ts fancytorepresent his conception of the head of thefabled Bluebeard. i l

Entering the head the right {he Fig. 3, is a vertical section on theline ,I traveler passes the turnstile and around the partition screen asindicated by the arrow, in front of Bluebeards reception room 10, thewall of which" has openings through which" he can look only, and inwhich are furnishings calculated to send an] expected thrill of horrorthrough the tourist. Beyond the room' 10 the tourist may pass over afloor having shuttle boards or through a pass age beside them havingnozzles 12- through which air under pressure in discharged.

The wall 6 is removed opposite the air nozj zles as shown the lineie, soan operator stationed at .14, in the castle, can see the touristswhereupon he surprises them by turning on the air. The shutfleboardswhich were optional to the tourist comprise apair o'tboards l l arrangedlongitudinally of the passageway, rec procated in alternate oppositedirections'by piston rod connections 15 (see Fig. 3) with correspondingeccentrics l6 rotated by beltc'onnection' with ainotor l7. From thencethe touristascendsa .which the tourist passes without ei'itering theroom, and turning the corner he climbs another ramp 19' which isBluebeards kitchen, furnished and tions that reverse when trod upon.

decorated in keeping with the character of the fabled owner; a Passingthe kitchen the tourist has the option of walking over the fourrevolving discs 21 or through the way with air nozzles 12, which theoperator may supply compressed air through in the manner previouslydescribed; The wall 6 is open 'as shown by line 13 to expose the touristto view on the discs or over the air. p Next the tourist climbsa stairs22 to plat-form having trip boards 23. These, as shown in Fig.3, are aseries of boards hinged together at their adjacent edges and supportedon pivots 2 1 normally in ii-forma- The tourist passes thence to awalk25through the floor of which compressed air is charged through nozzles12 as previously described. He descends a stair 26 and passes outsideor" room 27 which is Bluebeards wine cellar into which he can look atappropriate decorations and stores. Crossing the far end of the winecellar the tourist passes andhas arglimpse into room s ns i e y 28 whichis Bluebeards bath room, and next he crosses to the other side of themain enclosure through the two rooms 29 and 30 of the castle. properlyat right angles with their floors but the floors are oblique to thehorizontal, each floor at a different angle connected by stairs 31. dExitfrom the castleis over a tread mill32 or over a floor with airnozzles. 12, to a passage leading past a room 33 called the chamber ofhorrors in which are decapitated bodies, heads and relics of Bluebeardsgruesome amours.

Those who do not care to view this chamber can pass through a hallwayequipped with air nozzles 12 and down a ramp 3% past Bluebeards'bed room35, thence up a stairs 36 to a passageway in full view of the public andthe operator, through the floor of which compressedair is dischargedthrough nozzles 12. This air blast like the others is preferablysupplied from a blower 36 (see Fig. 2) operated by an electric motor,wired to a switchboard 14,- in

the castle.

The tourist next descends a sloping run-' way having a series oftransverse rollers 38 covered with brussels carpet for a tread, or hecan descend a stairs beside the rollers. In either event he next passesBluebeards den 40 and is appropriately thrilled by a look within andfrom there is ushered into room 41 which is furnished with numerousmirramp 18 and passes a room 19 known as and passes a room 20,-

The walls of these rooms are' rors set to form a maze from which hemakes his exist after much confusion and difliculty past a turnstile 42to the street wherev he joins the crowd in watching for glimpses throughthe walls 6 and 7 of tourists following'him. 1

It is obvious that, many departures are possible in arrangement andnumber of sen- 'sation devices and in the decorations of my 1 showstructure. In fact the size and character 01 the ground upon which it 1serected varies for different localities and I thereforedo not desire tobe limited to the arrange-' by a balustrade at its front end over andirom which the enclosed area is visible, a' plurality of trick andemotion producing de-- vices arranged in aseries along both'sides andrear end of the land area beyond the barriers, and apassageway fortourists con necting the trick and emotion devices in series and whichall persons entering the structure must traverse.

.2. An amusement structure having aland area open to the sky at the topbut closed by barriers from external view on both sides and rear end andfrom which the public is excluded by a balust-rade at its front end overand irom which the enclosed area is visible, a plurality of trick andemotion producing devices arranged in a series along a both sides andrear end of'the land area be.- yond the barriers, a passagewayfortourists connecting the trick and emotion devices in series which allpersons entering the structure must traverse, said land area enclosingbarriers screening the passageway and devices from. view from thebalustrade but said barriers having sight openings atintervals throughwhich tourists traversing the passageways, opposite vsaid openings maybe seen from the balustrade.

3. Anamu'sement structure'having a land area open to the sky at the topbut closed by barriers from external view on bothsides and rear end andfrom which the public is excluded by a balustrade at its front end overand from which the enclosed area is visible, a plurality of trick andemotion producing devices arranged in a series along both sides and rearend of the land area beyond the barriers, a passageway for touristsconnecting the trick and emotion devices in series which all personsentering the structure must traverse, said land area enclosing barriersscreening the passageway and devices from view from the balustrade butsaid barriers having sight openings at intervals through which touriststraversing the passageways opposite said openings may be seen from thebalustrade, and means for discharging air under pressure through thefloor of the passageway at one or more of said openings. I

4. An amusement structure having a land area open to the sky at the topbut closed by barriers from external View on both sides and rear end andfrom which the public is excluded by a balust-rade at its front end overand from which the enclosed area is visible, a plurality of trick andemotion producing devices arranged in a series alongboth sides and rearend of the land area be-- yond the barriers, a. passageway for touristsconnecting the trick and emotion devices in series which all personsentering the structure must traverse, said land area enclosing barriersscreening the passageway and devices from view from the balustrade butsaid barriers having sight openings at intervals through which touriststraversing the passageways opposite said openings may be seen from thebalustrade, means for discharging air underpressure through the floor ofthe passageway at one or more of said openings and means'for selectivelyconpass but not vision on the fourth side, entertainment devices locatedoutside of the closed area on the first three sides connected by atourists passage, sight openings through which tourist-straversing saidpassage are visible from the fourth side only, motion stimulatingdevices at the sight openings and means for manually actuating said lastdevices when tourist-sare near them.

7. An amusement structure'having a passageway for tourists through whichall entering the structure must pass, rotating disks tread mills,carpeted cylinders and the like trick devices in the passagewayrequiring athletic movementof the tourists, and a bypass around saiddevices for the optional use of the tourist having none of said athleticmovement requiring devices therein. Y i

'8. In an amusement structure having a closed area, with sight openingsthrough which those on the outside of the structure may look in a castleat one end having one or more rooms the floors of which areoblique toa'horizontal plane, a passageway entering the castle at one end'throughthe area closure on that side anda passageway leadlng from-the other endof the castle through.

the area closure on the other side said pas sageways being separated bya roofless grassplot, furnished and decorated rooms beside thepassageways the interiors of which are visible to tourists travellingthe .passage- Ways but-not to others, trick andfunanaking devices in thepassageways to additionally amuse anddivert the tourists who are visibleonly through the sight openings to the outside public- In testimonywhereof I affix my signature.

CHARLESVV. READ.

